World War II: The Home Front US History: Spiconardi

Women  In the military  Over 200,000 women served in separate units  Operated radios, repaired planes & vehicles, clerical duties, nursing

Women  Civilian Workforce  Job opportunities for women to replace men at war  Over 5 million took jobs in factories devoted to wartime production

Women  Rosie the Riveter

 “All the day long, Whether rain or shine, She's a part of the assembly line. She's making history, Working for victory, Rosie the Riveter. Keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage, Sitting up there on the fuselage. That little girl will do more than a male will do”

Women  Social Change  Many married women and mothers continued to work outside the home after World War II  Encouraged women to enter the workforce

African-Americans  Civilian Workforce  FDR issues Executive Order No  Employers in defense industries had to make jobs available “without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin.”  Blacks migrate to industrial cities in North & West  Whites hostile  1943 Race Riots  over 250 racial conflicts in 47 cities

African-Americans 1943 Race Riots Detroit

African-Americans  Military  Nearly 1,000,000 enlisted  Served in segregated units  Tuskegee Institute  Trained black pilots  Faced discrimination  Race riots on bases instigated by whites  Red Cross separated donated blood by race

African-Americans  Resulting Change  Blacks create voting blocs in urban areas  New economic opportunities (despite being paid significantly lower than whites)  Sparks Civil Rights Movement  Ready to wage a fight for full voting rights, end to segregation and equal access

Japanese Internment  After Pearl Harbor many Americans feared the presence of Japanese Americans  Threat to national security  “Had to have had spies in Hawaii to enable this attack”

Japanese Internment  Wartime Relocation Act  FDR establishes military zones for the imprisonment of Japanese Americans  120,000 imprisoned  77,000 were Nisei  native born citizens of the U.S.  See Reading for further details

Japanese Internment  Korematsu v. United States  Fred Korematsu refused to leave his Italian- American girlfriend and be relocated  Arrested and convicted of violating Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34  Appeals case all the way to Supreme Court  S.C. upholds lower court rulings in 6-3 decision

Japanese Internment  Korematsu vs. United States  Files writ of coram nobis in 1983 due to new evidence not presented by FBI  Federal judge ruled that while internment did not violate constitution, all detainees were victims of “unsubstantiated facts, distortions and…racism”

Japanese Internment  Reparations  In 1988, Congress voted to give each surviving detainee $20,000 and a public apology